The former finance director of an AIM-listed air conditioning firm is facing a tribunal following an investigation into his conduct.

Timothy Hunt was finance director of Wilmslow-based Worthington Nicholls Group for nine months from January 2007.

During his time at the air conditioning installer, he was responsible for the preparation and approval of the group’s interim financial statements for the six months to March 31, 2007.

Now the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board – the disciplinary body for the profession – has filed a disciplinary formal complaint in relation to Mr Hunt’s conduct in connection to the statements.

The tribunal follows an AADB investigation into the conduct of members and member firms in relation to Worthington Nicholls, which began in 2008.

In December 2007, Worthington Nicholls saw its shares plunge 11 per cent after it announced that writedowns of assets would be more than double what it had been expecting.

Worthington Nicholls was renamed Managed Support Services in 2008 following a boardroom coup and the dismissal of former chief executive Mark Worthington.

The AADB now alleges that Mr Hunt’s conduct breached the fundamental principles of integrity and of professional competence and due care and therefore fell short of the standard reasonably to be expected.

The breaches occurred in relation to the release of a regulatory news announcement, the release of a share placement letter in a shareholder circular, Mr Hunt’s conduct at an extraordinary general meeting and a board

meeting and the preparation of interim financial statements.

An independent disciplinary tribunal will be appointed to hear the formal complaint at a date yet to be decided.

An investigation in relation to the conduct of the auditors is continuing.

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